Surat: Kerala shuttler HS Prannoy beat Assam's Orijit Chaliha 3-1 in straight games in the National Games Mixed Team quarterfinals here on Saturday. The scores were 21-11, 21-9, IANS reported.
Prannoy is back on court after a month's break.
"It is a nice feeling to be back on the court. I last played in the first week of September in Japan Open. It was a long break for me after some good victories this year," Prannoy said as he took stock of his 26-minute victory. "I was not moving as well as I wanted to, but I have got back to training. And, playing a match after a long time is always tough," he said.
According to him, the match against Orijit Chaliha wasn't tough. "But going deeper into the tournament, I will be getting tougher matches," he said.
He has replaced Tokyo Olympic Games champion Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) at the top of the latest men's singles BWF World Tour 2022 Ranking, leading with 58,090 points after participating in 13 tournaments on the BWF World Tour this year.
Prannoy was a part when India hoisted their maiden Thomas Cup title in May. He made it to the final of the Swiss Open, a BWF Super 300 event, and reached the semifinals of Malaysia Masters and Indonesia Open.
"My focus would be the World Tour Finals. There are quite a few tournaments before that. I hope to produce winning results in those. I have to be consistent. Of course, I have to be in the top eight to make the grade," he said. "I would like to get into a good rhythm before the World Tour Finals. I'm happy with my results over the last year, and I need to be consistent," Prannoy said.
He said he wants to enter the top 10 world ranking of men's singles. "I would like to get into the top 10 and preferably top five as I would get a better draw. I also need to work on my game so that I should go beyond the semifinals. That is my priority now," he said.